The differentiated politicization of free movement of people in the EU. A topic model analysis of press coverage in Austria, Germany, Poland and the UK
- Author(s)
- Michael Blauberger, Anita Heindlmaier, Paul Hofmarcher, Josephine Assmus, Birgit Mitter
- Abstract
The free movement of people (FMP) has been a core principle of European Union (EU) integration since its beginnings, but it has recently become contested. This article traces the politicization of FMP, and the topics associated with it, over time and across countries. Rather than constituting a linear or uniform trend, we argue that the politicization of FMP is differentiated: it is driven by particular events such as Eastern enlargement, mitigated by restrictive domestic policies anticipating the expansion of EU free movement rights, and that FMP is salient, but not polarized, from an emigration country perspective. Combining structural topic modelling and qualitative text analysis, we compare three decades of news coverage of FMP in Austria, Germany, Poland and the UK.
- Organisation(s)
- Department of Sociology, Department of Economics, Department of Mathematics
- External organisation(s)
- Paris-Lodron Universität Salzburg, Jacobs Universität Bremen
- Journal
- Journal of European Public Policy
- Volume
- 30
- Pages
- 291-314
- No. of pages
- 24
- ISSN
- 1350-1763
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2021.1986118
- Publication date
- 2021
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 506004 European integration
- Keywords
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Sociology and Political Science, Public Administration
- Sustainable Development Goals
- SDG 10 - Reduced Inequalities
- Portal url
- https://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/en/publications/the-differentiated-politicization-of-free-movement-of-people-in-the-eu-a-topic-model-analysis-of-press-coverage-in-austria-germany-poland-and-the-uk(a94c99c5-f333-4fe6-95ca-93fec73bb1b8).html